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soc 224 > Ch. 1 - Determining Deviance > Flashcards

Ch. 1 - Determining Deviance Flashcards

1
Q

How do dictionaries define deviance?

A

Straying from objective norms.

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2
Q

What are the issues with using dictionary definitions of deviance?

A

How far do you have to stray to be qualified as deviant? Where do objective norms come from?

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3
Q

What are the two traditional types of definitions of deviance?

A

Objective and subjective.

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4
Q

What does the objective approach to deviance focus on?

A

The act of deviance; including why people do deviant things and how we should respond.

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5
Q

How is deviance objectively defined?

A

Deviance is defined by a common characteristic and we know it when we see it.

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6
Q

What does the subjective approach to deviance focus on?

A

The perceptions of and reactions to deviance.

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7
Q

How is deviance subjectively defined?

A

Deviance is not associated with a particular characteristic, but is instead socially defined. We are taught what is deviant.

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8
Q

What four objective criteria are available for labelling something as deviant?

A

Statistical rarity, harm, societal reaction, and normative violation.

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9
Q

What is the issue with the statistical rarity criteria for deviance?

A

How is “rare” defined?; some behaviours are not rare but deviant; many behaviours are rare but not deviant.

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10
Q

What is an example of an action that is rare but not deviant?

A

Homosexuality.

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11
Q

What is an example of an action that is not rare but still deviant?

A

Underage drinking.

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12
Q

What is the harm criteria of objective deviance?

A

Something is deviant if it causes harm.

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13
Q

What is ideological harm?

A

Any threat to the dominant worldview.

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14
Q

What are some problems with the harm criteria?

A

Perceptions of harm are subjective and can change over time.

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15
Q

What is one merit to the harm criteria?

A

It can point society in the direction of something where harm must be minimized, but can’t provide any solutions.

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16
Q

When does the harm criteria backfire?

A

When the reaction to the deviance causes more harm than the deviant act itself. E.g., the criminalization of drug use.

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17
Q

What are the problems with the societal reaction criteria?

A

Some people’s reactions count more than others, such as politicians; who many negative reactions are necessary to qualify something as deviant?

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18
Q

What is the main issue with the normative violation criteria?

A

Not all norms are the same.

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19
Q

What are the 3 different types of norms?

A

Folkways, mores, and laws.

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20
Q

What are folkways?

A

Informal norms, everyday customs, society’s expectations around etiquette.

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21
Q

What are mores?

A

More serious norms than folkways, but still informal.

22
Q

How is breaking mores viewed?

A

As a moral threat to society.

23
Q

What are laws?

A

Norms thought to be so important to the proper functioning of society that they are codified.

24
Q

What is the difference between prescriptive and proscriptive norms?

A

Prescriptive defines what we should do, proscriptive defines what we should not do.

25
Q

What are the three sources of norms?

A

Consensus, conflict, and interactionist views.

26
Q

What is a consensus origin of norms?

A

Society’s members all agreed on the norms that govern the society.

27
Q

What is a conflict origin of norms?

A

Norms and laws are used by society’s elite to promote and protect their own interests.

28
Q

What is the interactionist view of the origin of norms?

A

The powerful do not enact laws and create norms solely for their own benefit.

29
Q

What are the two types of consensus deviance?

A

High-consensus deviance and low-consensus deviance.

30
Q

According to subjectivism, what serves as the foundation for determining deviance?

A

Dominant moral codes.

31
Q

What is key to understanding where dominant moral codes come from?

A

Power dynamics.

32
Q

How do dominant moral codes emerge?

A

Through processes of social construction. Something is only deviant once it has been labelled as such.

33
Q

What does radical/strict constructionism state?

A

We must understand deviance as having no essential reality; everything is constructed.

34
Q

What does soft/contextual constructionism state?

A

There are limits to constructionism, there is only an element of objective reality.

35
Q

What are the four levels of social construction?

A

Sociocultural, institutional, interactional, and individual.

36
Q

What is sociocultural social construction?

A

How a society’s values and beliefs determine what is deviant.

37
Q

What is institutional social construction?

A

The different institutions that make up our society such as education, religion, politics, etc.

38
Q

What is interactional social construction?

A

The things that you learn in your socialization and interactions teach you what is and is not deviant.

39
Q

What is individual social construction?

A

Our own self-conceptions and identities come to determine what we think of as deviant.

40
Q

How do contemporary understandings of deviance treat the subjective/objective dichotomy?

A

It is thought of as a continuum.

41
Q

What does understanding an act of deviance require of us?

A

We must situate it within the larger context in which it occurs; therefore the study is about rule-making as much as it is rule-breaking.

42
Q

What are moral entrepreneurs?

A

Those who seek to define something or someone as deviant and dictate the appropriate response.

43
Q

What does the social typing process refer to?

A

The process by which a person, behaviour, or characteristic is deviantized.

44
Q

What are the three elements of the social typing process?

A

Description, evaluation, and prescription.

45
Q

What is the description element of the social typing process?

A

The label or category where someone or something is placed.

46
Q

What is the evaluation element of the social typing process?

A

The judgement or assumptions about the deviant behaviour.

47
Q

What is the prescription element of the social typing process?

A

The social control or sanctions put in place to deal with the deviant behaviour.

48
Q

What are the four types of sanctions?

A

Formal and informal, retroactive and preventative.

49
Q

What are formal sanctions?

A

Formal actions sought by people working in their official capacities within an institution.

50
Q

What are informal sanctions?

A

Sanctions that occur within our informal social interactions between friends, family, and even strangers.

51
Q

What are retroactive sanctions?

A

Punishment after the fact.

52
Q

What are preventative sanctions?

A

Done to stop deviant behaviour from occurring.

soc 224 (13 decks)

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